Archers in mediaeval dress at Esrum Monastery in Denmark. Archers would prove to be England’s boast under Edward’s great-grandson Henry V, who to a large degree owed his historic victory at Agincourt to them on October 25th, 1415. In those days, England did not maintain a standing professional army, so her Kings relied on the public to maintain the fitness and skills needed in war on their account. When the public chose instead to play football or bowls it meant that archers had to be laboriously trained rather than recruited ready-made.
Part 1 of 2
THE King to the Sheriffs of London, Greeting.*
Because the People of our Realm, as well of good Quality as mean, have commonly in their Sports, before these Times, exercised the Skil of Shooting Arrows, whence it is well known, that Honour and Profit have accrued to our whole Realm; and to us, by the Help of God, no small Assistance in our Warlike Acts;
And now the said Skil being as it were wholly layed aside, the same People please themselves in hurling of Stones and Wood and Iron; and some in Hand-Ball, Foot-Ball, Bandy-Ball, and in Cambuck*, and Cock-fighting; and some also apply themselves to other dishonest Games, and less profitable or useful; whereby the said Realm is likely in a short Time to become destitute of Archers:
* The text in Rymer’s Foedera indicates that the original letter was sent to the Sheriff of Kent, a county where the burden of the Hundred Years War lay heavily on the public, and was copied to other sheriffs with suitable changes. Strype evidently worked from the letter sent to London.
* In the letter sent to the Sheriffs of Kent, Edward at this point regretted those who ‘indulge themselves in ball-games with hand, foot and stick’ but did not name either bandy-ball or cambuck (cambuca), though both were played with a ball and a crook-ended stick. Using the word ‘hockey’ here would be an anachronism: it is not recorded before 1773.
Précis
In 1363, King Edward III was increasingly anxious about football and other games sweeping the country, which bade fair to make a dying art of archery. The change in tastes seemed to him to pose a grave threat to the armed forces, so he wrote urgently to the Sheriffs of London and wanted them of the danger. (56 / 60 words)
Part Two
This window pane in Gloucester Cathedral, dating back to about 1350, was commissioned by Sir Thomas Broadstone to commemorate fellow-soldiers who fell at the Battle of Crécy on August 12th 1346. The whole window is dedicated to the Coronation of the Virgin Mary, and most of the figures are angels, apostles, saints, kings, and abbots; but down on one side is this gentleman, evidently playing a ball-game with the crooked stick. It has long been celebrated as one of the earliest depictions of an English ball sport, though whether it is cambuck, bandy-ball or another game of the kind cannot be shown with any certainty. The date is against it being golf, but only by a few decades: in 1457, James II of Scotland felt compelled to ban golfing on a Sunday, for interfering with archery.
We willing to apply a seasonable Remedy to this, command you, that in Places in the foresaid City, as well within the Liberties as without,* where you shall see it expedient, you cause publick Proclamation to be made, that every one of the said City, strong in Body, at leisure Times on Holydays, use, in their Recreations, Bows and Arrows, or Pellets* or Bolts,* and learn and exercise the Art of Shooting; forbidding all and singular on our behalf, that they do not after any manner apply themselves to the Throwing of Stones,* Wood, Iron, Hand-Ball, Foot-Ball, Bandy-Ball, Cambuck or Cock-fighting, or such other like vain Plays, which have no profit in them; or concern themselves therein, under pain of Imprisonment.
Witness the King at Westminster, the 12 Day of June.
* In mediaeval England, ‘liberties’ were small enclaves with special local government rights, distinct from the Hundreds and Boroughs which made up the patchwork of local government around the country. They were found all over the realm — from Dublin to Ipswich, from Fordington in Dorset to the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, from Oxford to Durham — but especially in London, where they included the Inner and Middle Temples, the Tower of London, Blackfriars, Southwark, the Clink, Minories, and several others. Edward reminded such Liberties that they had no right to exempt themselves from his proclamation.
* A pellet is a projectile fired from a gun. An inventory of weapons dating from 1339 mentioned four and half hundredweight of them in ‘La Bretaske’, an armoury near the Tower of London, and said they were for firing from ‘gonnes’ using explosive powder. These ‘gonnes’ were hand-cannon made of latten (an alloy of copper and zinc that resembles brass), at that time a military novelty in Europe. In 1346, the English deployed them in battle at Calais.
* A bolt is an arrow fired from a cross-bow or catapult. The City of London inventory for 1339 included seven ‘springalds’, large cross-bows mounted in wooden cages.
* Records of munitions at Windsor from 1330/31 mention a large stone-throwing balista (catapult) there called Lady Gunhild. An Englishman discovered in the ‘throwing of stones’ with such a machine would presumably have escaped the wrath of the Sheriff.
* In the King’s letter to the Sheriff of Kent, preserved by Rymer, the King does mention cambuck (canibucam) at this point, but not bandy-ball.
Précis
To prevent any further loss of skilled archers, Edward gave clear orders that everyone in the country, without exception, must at once stop playing any ball games, throwing games, or degrading sports as cockfighting, and go back to archery, or else they would find a spell in gaol waiting for them. (51 / 60 words)
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